Thing #16-Learn Wikis

I actually understand the concept of wikis. They sure would have been helpful when I was in college and needed to work on a project with a group of people (we had to arrange times to physically meet, which was difficult)! I enjoyed the Book Lovers wiki from the Princeton Public Library and think that is a very helpful tool for anyone trying to decide what to read. The ALA wikis (both from New Orleans in 2006 and Washington D. C. in 2007) certainly contained a host of helpful information. For uses such as these, I think the wiki is a brilliant tool. It is amazing how much information you can amass with a collaborative effort! My problem with wikis is that I tend to be protective of "my things", and am not comfortable with the idea of anyone going in and editing what I posted. I think I would only want to use a wiki with a group comprised of a few people I knew I could trust.

Thing #15-Perspectives on Web 2.0

I read all the recommended articles and noticed the common theme of involving the user in the libraries of the future. The articles point out how libraries will need to change their focus since they are no longer the only source for research. When I read Dr. Wendy Schultz's article, the paragraph on Library 1.0 made me laugh. It made me think of an experience I had at the library in my elementary school. I opened a book to read and the librarian yelled at me for "bending the spine". I remember being so confused---don't you have to open the book to read it?! It seems that in the past, some libraries were more like museums. The libraries of the future will be much more open to the users and will provide the tools users require for their research. It was interesting to look into Dr. Schultz's future Libraries 3.0 and 4.0 and imagine what that will be like. It wasn't so long ago that I couldn't imagine ever needing the internet! The only certainty is change, and libraries are changing with the times. It will be so exciting to see these changes as they evolve!!

Thing #14-Technorati

Wow! I had no idea there were so many blogs! I am glad to now be among the rapidly growing number of people who utilize this technology! The Technorati web site was a bit overwhelming---so many categories of blogs! Blogs on everything and anything you can possibly imagine!! I explored the top favorited blogs, top searches, and top blogs. It is extremely easy to use! I did a keyword search for Learning 2.0. Using the search tool, 25,415 blog posts were found, and there were 484 blogs about Learning 2.0. I imagine I will use this web site in the future to locate blogs I wish to read!

Thing #13-Del.icio.us

I found Thing #13 to be among the more confusing exercises thus far. Perhaps it is because the link to the 12 minute video did not work. I received the following error: "ERROR: www.library2.0.ottergroup.com is temporarily unavailable or does not exist. Please check the address and try again." I explored the del.icio.us site and was finally able to make some sense of it. I set up an account for myself and can see the advantage of being able to in essence utilize this website to get to my bookmarks from any computer. I clicked on bookmarks that others had bookmarked. I was able to see the tags others used to categorize the reference, but was unable to see the comments they had added. I will probably not use this web site much in the future, as I find it easier to just type in the web site I wish to go to instead of first going to del.icio.us and then going to my bookmarked websites. It seems this adds another step, but maybe I am missing something!!

Thing #12-Rollyo

Rollyo is a very interesting search tool (once I got the hang of using it, that is)! It is definitely a positive step to be able to search for topics based on the sites of your choosing; not all the ones that might result from a yahoo or google search and could be potentially harmful to your computer. It is nice to be able to search for things using only sites you trust. I am a news junkie, so I played around with Rollyo and created a Streett Local News search roll. The link is below:
http://rollyo.com/hstreett/streett_local_news/

Thing #11-Library Thing

What a useful tool this is! Library Thing is an amazing web site! I signed up and tried this site out by cataloging five books I recently read--the link is below:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/hstreett

I especially like the recommendations feature which lists other books I might be interested in based on the books in my catalog.

Thing #10-Online image generator

I have played around with the online image generators listed in the #10 instructions. The Generator Blog was a lot of fun! I had fun typing things in exotic fonts with glittery letters! I created an avatar using the Meez website. It was fun and easy, although I don't know that it is very educational! You could certainly spend a lot of time poking around on these sites. Again, I am amazed at the things people have come up with and am grateful I am now aware they exist!